BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

No-brainer college basketball exam released

Coach's test asked how many points a 3-point field goal is worth

It’s reminiscent of the old joke, “Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb,” but the NCAA isn’t laughing at the final – and only – exam Georgia assistant men’s basketball coach Jim Harrick Jr. gave in his Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball class in 2001.

Mind-bending questions included: How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a basketball game? How many goals are on a basketball court? How many quarters are in a high school basketball game?

Harrick’s multiple-choice test was released by the University of Georgia as part of an NCAA investigation into rules violations in the school’s basketball program, the Associated Press reported. The exam was included among 1,500 pages of documents released yesterday.

The NCAA concluded Harrick Jr. “fraudulently awarded grades of A to three men’s basketball student-athletes” enrolled in the course he taught in the fall 2001 semester by allowing them to miss class and tests, according to the report. In fact, Harrick Jr. gave everyone in the class an A.

Last March, after the original allegations came to light, the university chose not to renew Harrick Jr.’s contract. He is the son of former Georgia basketball coach Jim Harrick Sr., who was suspended and then resigned over the controversy.

Harrick Jr., who had no comment in response to the document release, has filed a defamation lawsuit against university officials and others.

The documents show one of Harrick’s students called the class’ final exam “the easiest thing that I’ve ever taken.”

A transcript of an interview with a student quotes him as saying: “I remember when he assigned that, you know, he didn’t seem to care if anybody showed up to take the final because he said, ‘Well, if you know of anybody who is not here who needs to take the final, just tell them to come by my office. It’s no big deal.'”

In the investigation, school attorneys said they contacted 18 of Harrick’s 39 students, who all said they took the test, but said that scholarship basketball players – Chris Daniels, Rashad Wright and Tony Cole, a former player – did not take it, AP reported.

Cole went public last year with his allegations of receiving academic and financial benefits from the coaching staff.

The final “was short and easy,” one student-athlete said. “A lot of times Harrick Junior would not come to class towards the end so I do not remember any study sessions for the final. I think I did well on the final.”

Here is Harrick Jr.’s final exam released by the University of Georgia:

How many goals are on a basketball court? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4

How many players are allowed to play at one time on any one team in a regulation game? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5